omni42 39 points40 points 1 year ago

My question though is how to use it for vets. Mental healthcare, physical healthcare, housing? I'm always interested in possible solutions for problems like these. DC in particular needs some creative solutions for get homelessness.

alarbus 58 points59 points 1 year ago

Three excellent places to start.

Soggy_Cracker 37 points38 points 1 year ago

Studies have been done and show that’s it’s cheaper to pay for housing which allow homeless people to get back on their feet than for the various programs meant to assist in doing it. Shelters, education, job programs, meals, etc.

Once a person has a home, they can focus on the other things to get back to taking care of themselves and becoming productive members of society again.

binzoma 18 points19 points 1 year ago

yup this. people don't appreciate how much mental energy they put towards things like job hunting. When you don't have to worry about being able to sleep, when you don't have to worry about having clothes warm enough to survive, when you don't have to worry about how you'll eat, it's easy to put 100% effort into a job hunt. When you're homelss 80-90% of your energy is spent on staying alive, you don't have enough left in the tank to do much to improve. And if you do because you're homeless then preparing for interviews is hard, finding clothes for interviews is hard. Getting in touch with references, getting documents showing your experience etc. It's all hard. A stable home resolves almost all of that

RamblingStoner 8 points9 points 1 year ago

Hell, how is a job even supposed to contact you for an interview if you don’t have a phone or an address? I get wanting people to help themselves but they need the tools to do so.

binzoma 1 point2 points 1 year ago

yup. plus where do you leave all your worldly possessions when you go to an interview? or shower and change for it? or even get to/from one etc.

Stupid_Triangles 0 points1 point 1 year ago

Tools cost money.

TeddysBigStick 2 points3 points 1 year ago

Utah has a program that is doing great doing just that.

_PurpleAlien_ 1 point2 points 1 year ago

yes, see for instance the housing first program in Finland:

dopeless-hopehead 1 point2 points 1 year ago

Only problem is, which homeless get permanent housing because there are sadly a lot of folks who even with housing, won't be able to get their lives back on track and will be back on the streets. We'll likely still need all those other programs, hopefully to a lesser extent if we were to implement what you're discussing, which I absolutely agree with.

GrayRVA 2 points3 points 1 year ago

Agreed. I watched a news documentary which followed some homeless men who were provided with permanent housing and it was hard to watch. These guys were so grateful for the beginnings of a new life, but most just could not overcome their substance abuse issues and ended up back on the streets. Addictions are so tough to beat.

MamaDaddy 0 points1 point 1 year ago

Maslows hierarchy of needs: shelter is very important, and you can't move on to higher pursuits until you've got shelter.

Vkca -1 points0 points 1 year ago

Maybe if we just gave everyone food and board for free the world would be better off...

gonyere 2 points3 points 1 year ago

And we could. There are plenty of houses in this country to do it. There is plenty of food being thrown out every day to feed everyone. That we actively choose not to is disgraceful.

omni42 -1 points0 points 1 year ago

Yes, but Americans have consistently shown they would rather pay more for virtue shaming the poor than save money by enacting those kinds of benefits. Hopefully that's changing.

[deleted] 2 points3 points 1 year ago


omni42 0 points1 point 1 year ago

The next few years I feel like we are going to have to rebuild our social contract in a lot of ways, and hopefully this is one of them. Universal healthcare should be implemented regardless, but having a separate system for veterans and others in high trauma professions might be a way to help there.

pvXNLDzrYVoKmHNG2NVk 1 point2 points 1 year ago

Why should those services only be for vets?

omni42 0 points1 point 1 year ago

Its easier to expand an existing program once it is created than start something new.

rebellion_ap -3 points-2 points 1 year ago

All of these exist within the VA already, as well as other programs generally started by veterans to provide assistance. The issue is more complex than throwing money at it.

[deleted] 1 point2 points 1 year ago


Cadaverlanche 1 point2 points 1 year ago

Lol @ the idea of the VA being at all competent adequately funded.

Hatewrecked -2 points-1 points 1 year ago

They have a $200 billion budget.

That's $10,000 for every veteran in the country, not even reducing it down to only the ones who need assistance.

rebellion_ap 0 points1 point 1 year ago

It's easy to hate on the VA because yes, you are right the bigger institutions within the VA have failed people many times over and the systems are overly complex at times. However, just about any social program you can think of exists under the VA. Mental healthcare? Go to the VA hospital if it's severe or Vet Center if you just want a counselor/group to talk too, physical healthcare? Va hospital and a lot of time the use of the choice program. housing/homeless? depends what kind, Vash-Hud for homelessness , a litany of retirement home programs under the VA, then State funded VA programs exist and can range from full support to emergency assistance with bills. At the this point you might have realized the VA sounds vastly complex and I have no idea how to navigate it, well between the general service number, outreach coordinators, and Veteran service officers whose entire jobs revolve around navigating the system they have you covered.

[deleted] 0 points1 point 1 year ago


omni42 0 points1 point 1 year ago

Yes, its often a matter of delivery and targeting. Which leads us back to finding effective policies that would actually help people.

rebellion_ap 1 point2 points 1 year ago

someone else in the thread pointed it out too but you can't force people to fix their life. I'm not saying the VA is perfect by any means but more than often VA employees were veterans themselves and bend over backwards at times to help people even if it's not their primary job.

omni42 0 points1 point 1 year ago

Oh certainly. But there are limits even for those who are go above and beyond. The VA has a lot of structural issues as I understand it. It needs serious work to be able to amplify those dedicated people's work, instead of hindering it.